The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, January 24, 2024

VOLUME 108, ISSUE NO. 16 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024

SA GENERAL ELECTION TIMELINE Jan. 22

8 p.m. Miner Lounge SA information session for interested candidates

JAN

Jan. 29

8 p.m. Ley Conference Room SA information session for interested candidates

Feb. 1

Feb. 3 - 7

Feb. 7

Campaigning begins @ 7 a.m.

Feb. 19

Feb. 21

Senate votes to approve ballot

Voting period begins and campaigning period ends @ noon

Feb. 28

Voting period ends

MAR

Late March/early April Changeover

NEWS EDITOR

Campaign statements and pictures due @ 11:59 p.m.

FEB

Candidate statements and photos posted to SA website

BRANDON CHEN

Feb. 2

Election packet with 25 petition signatures due @ 11:59 p.m.

Feb. 29

Election results announced @ noon

ALICE SUN / THRESHER DATA FROM SA ELECTION HANDBOOK

Student Association elections kick into gear with information sessions, election packets PRAYAG GORDY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Student Association director of elections Jocelyn Wang held the first information session for interested candidates Monday.

Campaigning begins Feb. 7 and ends Feb. 21, when the voting period will open for one week. The SA will announce election results Feb. 29.

Last year, the races for SA president, internal vice president, external vice president and treasurer were uncontested, and no candidates filed in the initial secretary election. The Thresher Backpage created a fake candidate, “Dilf Hunter,” who took 22% of the presidential vote in their satirical write-in campaign.

Now, with at least two students likely to run for SA president, Wang said she hopes to see competition up and down the ballot.

“I think that having multiple people interested in such a prominent position

already … spells well for the remainder of the positions,” Wang, a Baker College sophomore, said.

The ballot will include the SA executives, along with Honor Council representatives and leaders of the Blanket Tax organizations. To file a candidacy, students must submit a petition with 25 signatures to the information desk at the Rice Memorial Center by 11:59 p.m. Feb. 1, according to the election handbook.

Wang said she will prioritize increasing student engagement in the election process. Turnout was 15.02% last year, a far cry from 2018, when over half the student body voted in the four-candidate race for president.

Competition continued into 2019, when three presidential candidates filed and 42% of the student body cast a ballot.

Then, in February 2020, the presidential election was uncontested for the first time in seven years. Just 27.2% of students

voted. The following year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, turnout was 24%, even though the presidency was contested.

And in 2022, another competitive race for SA president garnered 1,124 votes, then 26.81% of the student body.

Wang said she believes the lack of choices on the 2023 ballot contributed to voter apathy. “[Last year] I think people just thought their vote didn’t matter since every position was uncontested,” Wang said.

This time around, the SA will emphasize social media in its push to boost voter turnout. Wang envisions candidate Instagram takeovers, for instance, once the ballot is finalized.

“Having more of a social media presence [and] making sure that the student body feels more connected with their SA representatives will be something that’s really important for increasing things like voter turnout and participation,” she said.

Tomás Morín’s ‘Where Are You From: Letters to My Son’ explores Brown identity in America HAMZA SAEED

THRESHER STAFF

Writing to an audience that does not yet exist — some may think it’d be a bit tricky. In his latest book, “Where Are You From: Letters to My Son,” assistant professor of creative writing Tomás Q. Morín sets out to do just that, writing a series of letters to his, at the time, unborn son. Letters that, as Morín puts it, “offer advice and personal perspective on issues of love, growth and the future his son will have to face.” Morín discusses how he, as a person of color, inhabits the present day in America — and what it means for the

landscape his son will be born into.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rice Thresher: Who are you? Who are we sitting across from? What parts of you are just so present at any given moment that you have no choice but to reveal them when prompted by those words?

Tomás Morín: The first thing that comes to mind is that I’m a father. I’m a father, I’m a writer, I’m a son, I’m a teacher. I think I started teaching in 1998, and there was only about a three year

Ni announces resignation from SA presidency

break in there. So all my adult life, I’ve been a teacher.

RT: Could you talk about that process of going from a train of thought in your head to actually publishing this book? Let us in, dispel the myths!

Reveal the story of this story!

TM: It’s kind of like running your first marathon. Do you have the stamina to sustain a writing project for a whole book that’s in prose? I didn’t think I would write another prose book after my memoir.

SEE MORÍN PAGE 8

Solomon Ni, the Student Association president, announced his resignation at the Student Association meeting Jan. 22 effective Jan. 29. Internal Vice President Alison Qiu will assume the role of SA president through the remainder of Ni’s term.

Ni read aloud from a written statement during Senate, citing mental health and the demands of the position as reasons for their resignation.

“Last semester was excruciatingly difficult for me and my health. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in the middle of the semester, and being in this position was not doing me any favors,” Ni said. “I pushed off my routine [and] pushed my wellbeing

Regardless of what I was feeling, I had an irrational obligation to see the position through.

No person should ever be put in the position of deciding between taking care of themselves and their obligations to their community.

Solomon Ni OUTGOING SA PRESIDENT

to the side, making sure I was going above and beyond what’s expected of me and making sure we were doing our best for our community.

“Regardless of what I was feeling, I had an irrational obligation to see the position through,” he continued.

“No person should ever be put in the position of deciding between taking care of themselves and their obligations to their community.”

As Ni opened the floor for questions, a few attendees spoke in support.

“It’s a very brave decision for you to make, so props to you,” Krish Kumar, Sid Richardson College senator, said. “[Ni] is definitely leaving the Senate a better place than he found it,” Katelynn Porras, the Martel College president, later told the Thresher. “In terms of engagement on campus, I think … our agenda items have really made [it] into people’s minds, whereas maybe in past years, especially since I matriculated COVID year, no one really [cared].”

In an interview with the Thresher after Senate, Ni said their resignation is another example of overworked and overwhelmed student leaders at Rice.

“I think my word of advice to anyone who’s taking a student leader position, and just generally anyone who’s in the community who feels like they are struggling: Culture of Care means putting yourself first,” Ni said.

The role of Student Association president is “thankless,” he added.

SEE NI RESIGNS PAGE 2

2 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024

THE RICE THRESHER

New vending machines open with healthy alternatives MARIA MORKAS

ASST. NEWS EDITOR New vending machines have been placed in West Servery, the secondfloor vending area in the Brockman Hall for Physics and the seventh floor near the student lounge in the Biosciences Research Collaborative, according to David McDonald, interim associate vice president of Housing and Dining.

In collaboration with Canteen Vending Services, the company that provides all of the campus’ vending machines, these new Farmer’s Fridge vending machines host “fresh, convenient meals,” according to their website.

McDonald said that H&D is aiming to use modern vending machines to bring healthier food options to campus, in addition to the pre-existing snacks and drinks.

“We are also responding to data about fresh food options being more readily available and for late evening hours,” McDonald wrote in an email to the Thresher. “We are anticipating a higher service level for graduate students by placing machines near highervolume labs. However, we are also simultaneously adding them to spaces occupied by undergraduates, such as at the West Servery. If the program goes well, we anticipate expanding the program to more buildings and colleges.”

Kennedy King, a senior at Duncan College, said that she bought a pesto pasta dish from the machine once.

“I only used it once, but it ended up being AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER pretty convenient because the servery was closed, and I hadn’t eaten anything,” King said.

“I didn’t want chips from the vending machine; I wanted a meal, so it’s been pretty convenient, even though I don’t use it that often.”

McMurtry College junior Janhvi Somaiya said she was surprised when she first saw the new vending machine, as it looked different from the others on campus. Though she hasn’t yet used looking for a the machine, she acknowledged its convenient, healthier option on convenience as a late-night food option.

“I haven’t really used it before, and campus, she thinks that this is a decent I don’t anticipate using it maybe more choice.

“I don’t think it’s something you than once,” Somaiya said. “Sometimes I stay on campus [late], so I’m not going would go to regularly just because of the to get access to the food at home. It price, or at least I wouldn’t,” Somaiya could be nice as an option. I just haven’t said. “It’s more of if I accidentally skipped necessarily explored it yet, nor do I see dinner, or I just needed something to eat in between at a time where the servery myself doing it a lot.”

The machines offer salads, breakfast wasn’t open, maybe I would consider options, bowls, sandwiches, snacks getting something from there. But the and proteins, according to the company prices are a little [on the higher end], at website. The chocolate chia pudding least for me.”

Since the vending machines were is $5.49, the cobb salad is $8.99, the harvest grain bowl is $7.49, the baja implemented in January, McDonald chicken wrap is $8.49 and white cheddar said H&D has not gathered data about the success and popularity of these cheese cubes are sold for $2.79.

Somaiya said that if someone is machines yet.

FROM FRONT PAGE

NI RESIGNS

“You get it from all sides: administrators, students, people in Senate. It does take a toll on you in terms of how you feel about yourself and your self-worth and validation,” Ni said. “If someone asked me, ‘Should I run for Student Association president?’

I would hesitate to give them an answer that is emphatically yes … I think a lot of the college presidents would also agree with me on that.”

Starting Jan. 29, Qiu, a Hanszen College junior, will take Ni’s place as SA president. Her term will end in March after February’s scheduled SA election.

“I think [Ni’s resignation] definitely inspires people to reflect on how they can balance their SA responsibilities with their mental health and their own commitments,” Qiu said. “He really cared about improving the Student Association and I hope that I can carry that forward.”

Looking back at their ten-month term, Ni said he appreciated working alongside the Executive Committee and what they were able to accomplish.

“I don’t necessarily think I have any regrets. I think that I regret that I didn’t take care of myself … but I don’t have any regrets in terms of the position itself and taking it on,” Ni said. “I’m very grateful for the people that I met and the people that I’ve been able to work with … [and] I’m very hopeful about what they’re able to continue doing.”

Burke to be lead Undergraduate teaching grant doubles innovation AVP IVANA HSYUNG

BELINDA ZHU

SENIOR WRITER

Brad Burke has been named associate vice president for industry and new ventures by Rice’s Office of Innovation.

According to Burke, this new role serves as an alliance between the Brown School of Engineering, Wiess School of Natural Sciences, Jones Graduate School of Business and the Office of Research to support the launch of Rice faculty and student startups, combining business experience with engineering and science innovations.

Michael Koenig, the associate dean for innovation initiatives, said Burke’s new position is an important new development for Rice Business and the university as a whole. In addition to this new role, Burke will continue as executive director of the Rice Alliance, which he has led for the past two decades.

“With his wealth of experience and dedication, [Burke] will play a pivotal role in fostering innovation, strengthening industry relationships and accelerating the growth of Rice startups,” Koenig wrote in an email to the Thresher. “His leadership will benefit the Office of Innovation and contribute significantly to developing corporate collaborations, community partnerships and marketing strategies.”

Besides supporting the growth of Rice-affiliated technology companies, Burke will lead the strategy of both new and current corporate collaborations, community partnerships and marketing strategy for the Office of Innovation.

Editor’s Note: This article has been cut off for print. To read more, visit ricethresher. org.

FOR THE THRESHER Starting this year, Rice has nearly doubled the total funding available for the George R. Brown Teaching Grant from $35,000 to $60,000. Faculty may apply for the grant and receive a maximum of $8,000 in funding, an increase from the original limit of $5,000, for project proposals aimed at enriching the undergraduate educational experience.

The grant has existed for about 20 years, according to an email from Provost Amy Dittmar. In her email, Dittmar described the grant as “an incentive for faculty to get creative with their undergraduate courses and not be potentially constrained by budgets.”

Chair of the University Committee on Teaching Laura Kabiri said that improvements to the classroom funded by the grant might include “new instructional methods, new technology or even special seminars and programs.”

According to the Chair of the GRB Teaching Grant subcommittee Bruce Weisman, the monetary amount available for these awards had remained constant over many years, leading the committee to request an increase.

“It was obvious to the teaching committee that its purchasing power, and therefore the effectiveness of the impact of the grants that we could provide, was decreasing as the number of students increased,” Wiesman said.

According to Dittmar, award funding comes from the proceeds of a Brown Foundation gift. The gift was initially invested in an endowed fund to provide a recurring source of income, and earnings from that investment pay for the grant each year.

Dittmar said she confirmed with

The Brown Teaching Grants are a unique funding opportunity on campus that draws applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds and makes a direct impact on the undergraduate educational experience.

Laura Kabiri UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON TEACHING, CHAIR

budget staff that the endowed fund generates enough earnings to nearly double the award amount.

“I’m very pleased and grateful to be able to provide this boost to the undergraduate experience at Rice,” Dittmar wrote.

Any faculty member in undergraduate education may apply for the grant any number of times. Applications are due early March. The subcommittee assesses proposals, then sends recommendations to the provost’s office for review.

Approved faculty recipients are notified around late March.

“The ability for faculty of any rank or position to apply and win a Brown Teaching Grant is one of my favorite things about this process,” Kabiri wrote. “There is no preference among professors, and we do our best to select proposals from a wide variety of course types and schools on campus.”

Weisman explains that the subcommittee specifically looks for

proposals with the most potential.

“We try to agree on which ones are the most promising and have the best payoff,” Weisman said.

The GRB Teaching Grant subcommittee involves representatives all across campus. Weisman said that the number of applications fluctuates significantly each year, but it averages around 15. Weisman added that “the number of successful applicants depends on the amounts that are requested and the amounts that are available,” and that more than half the applications are usually funded.

“I hope that we can fund a larger fraction of the proposals and fund them more thoroughly,” Weisman said.

Kabiri said she is encouraged by the increased funds.

“The Brown Teaching Grants are a unique funding opportunity on campus that draws applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds and makes a direct impact on the undergraduate educational experience,” Kabiri wrote.

“I can’t wait to see what our incredible faculty come up with this year.”

NDIDI NWOSU / THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 • 3

NEWS

Dandelion Cafe begins normal operations, sets hours KEEGAN LEIBROCK

SENIOR WRITER

SAMMI FREY / THRESHER The Dandelion Cafe, a Houston-based vendor, has opened in the O’Connor Building for Engineering & Science. This week, the restaurant has begun operating its normal hours, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. The restaurant serves a number of breakfast and lunch options all day.

According to Brad Thacker, the director of operations in the O’Connor Building, a number of vendors were considered for the space with multiple criteria in mind before Dandelion Cafe was ultimately selected as the vendor.

Thacker said that Dandelion Cafe, which has another location is in Bellaire, was chosen due to its menu options and ability to quickly adapt to a new space.

“We wanted a local vendor that would fit well with Rice’s students, faculty and staff most importantly,” Thacker wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Other factors included having a wide culinary range to be able to accommodate all catering needs for the building … [and] an entrepreneurial spirit to keep the menu fresh and exciting … Finally, the vendor needed to be ready financially and operationally to open a new location [including] the scaling challenges this would entail.”

Shayla Pruitt, an employee of the original Dandelion Cafe who moved to the new location, said that the transition to the new space has been largely without challenges.

“For me, the transition has been pretty easy because I’m from the old location, but everyone’s at least a little familiar with the expectations of the [the managers],” Pruitt said. “I wouldn’t say [the kitchen] is smaller than at the Bellaire location, but we do have more equipment which allows for more foods to be made in-house.”

Arjun Surya, a Sid Richardson College sophomore, said that the new dining location feels much different from other on-campus restaurants.

“I stopped by on my way to class when I

realized that the cafe was open,” Surya said.

“Right away, I noticed that compared to every other [food vendor] at Rice, it seemed very different. It is very big and spacious, and the menu had a lot more options than other oncampus dining locations.”

Right away, I noticed that compared to every other [food vendor] at Rice, it seemed very different.

Arjun Surya SID RICHARDSON COLLEGE SOPHOMORE

Thacker said that the vendor would begin normal hours this week, with the possibility of expanding hours in the future.

“Reception has been extremely positive,” Thacker said. “I expect that to remain true as they extend operations to 7 a.m. [to] 7 p.m. this week and start opening on weekends very soon.”

Pruitt said that the decision to extend operating hours beyond the 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. soft opening was made to account for an increase in customer traffic.

“Right when everyone’s getting out of class around 3 p.m., that’s when we get our

biggest pops [in business],” Pruitt said.

Pruitt said the location serves high-quality ingredients, made in-house.

“We make our own sausage and chorizo, and we marinate our chicken for 24 hours in the store so you get the best flavor,” Pruitt said. “We make our own syrups and other items for coffees ourselves … We really pride ourselves in the quality that we give.”

Surya said that he hopes Rice will build on the success of the new cafe and continue to add on-campus food options.

“I think a big problem we see right now is that there is just a lack of other dining options on campus, especially during the nighttime,” Surya said. “I definitely feel like this new cafe is a step in the right direction.”

Susann Glenn, Rice’s director of communication for finance and administration, said that while there are no immediate plans to expand, Rice administration is always considering adding more external food vendors onto campus.

“As our campus land use plan becomes more public and the president’s strategic plan gets out there, there will be pockets [on campus] where we will need something here or something there,” Glenn said. “So [adding more vendors] is always something that we’re exploring because … as the population grows that also means our staff and faculty populations are growing. So how are we feeding folks?”

RUPD hosts 15th Citizen’s Police Academy Rice launches partnership

with Woodside Energy

PRASI DESAI

SENIOR WRITER The Rice University Police Department’s Citizen Police Academy classes will begin Jan. 29 after a five-year hiatus. The CPA offers free, interactive courses on RUPD’s departments and responsibilities for campus community members every Monday for nine weeks.

Juan Alejandro, an RUPD sergeant who is overseeing the CPA, said the program allows the Rice community to connect with and learn from RUPD officers. According to Alejandro, planning for the 2024 program began last November after the CPA paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Every opportunity to strengthen the bond between law enforcement and the community is one that should be taken advantage of,” Alejandro said.

Samantha Gutierrez, an RUPD detective and the internet safety instructor for the CPA, said the classes educate participants on roles and responsibilities within policing.

“Having some kind of knowledge on how to protect yourself is extremely important for anyone living in a large and dense city such as Houston,” Gutierrez wrote in an email to the Thresher.

Alejandro said the program’s 25 slots filled up in under 12 hours.

“It gives me satisfaction to know that people are interested in it,” Alejandro said.

According to Alejandro, classes will cover topics such as traffic stops, police technology, the history of policing, first aid and active threat training. A representative from the District Attorney’s office will explain the DA’s role in law enforcement.

Rather than being purely lecture-based, Alejandro also said the classes are meant to be interactive.

According to RUPD Chief Clemente Rodriguez, the curriculum has been adapted since 2019 to include more lessons regarding police technology.

“Some of the changes have come about because of the interest in transparency in law enforcement,” Rodriguez said.

As a result, Alejandro said this year’s program will include lessons involving mobile automated fingerprint identification systems as well as impairment goggles, which simulate the feeling of intoxication.

Rodriguez said the CPA is also an

VIOLA HSIA

SENIOR WRITER

RICHARD LI / THRESHER

opportunity for RUPD to learn more about the needs of the Rice community.

“Without the support of the community, we would definitely not be as effective,” Rodriguez said.

According to Gutierrez, programs like these help forge connections between community members and their police department.

“An event such as the CPA gets the community involved and provides an understanding of various roles and responsibilities within policing,” Gutierrez wrote.

The Rice community is a key partner in campus safety, according to Rodriguez.

“Safety is the responsibility of everyone, not just the police,” Rodriguez said.

Laura Lawrence, police officer at the Houston Police Department and alumni liaison for the HPD Citizen’s Police Academy, said that the HPD CPA, which has been operational since 1989, aims to inform citizens about the criminal justice system and law enforcement and to strengthen ties between the community and local police.

“The ultimate goal of the Citizens’ Police Academy was to reduce crime through a stronger citizen commitment to the police department and the community,” Lawrence wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Citizens are able to share their experiences and learned information with … their community to further improve and strengthen community-police relations in Houston.”

Alejandro said he hopes RUPD continues to host programs such as the CPA to educate the Rice community.

“I hope that this is the beginning of additional classes that become the staple,” Alejandro said.

Rice announced a five-year partnership with Australian-based company Woodside Energy Jan. 17. This partnership will provide $12.5 million to build the Woodside-Rice Decarbonization Accelerator, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide lower carbon solutions.

President Reginald DesRoches said that this partnership is representative of the types of collaborations higher education institutes partake in to address difficult international issues.

“Such partnerships accelerate discoveries made at universities to be transformed into products, technologies and systems that can be applied across the globe,” DesRoches wrote in an email to the Thresher.

Paul Cherukuri, Rice’s vice president for innovation, said the collaboration itself differs from other university partnerships, in both the five-year deadline and the global scale of the project.

“This problem [with carbon dioxide] is literally a global challenge, and generally companies are looking for solutions that are a little shorter term, but a little more manageable,” Cherukuri said.

“This is quite literally a moonshot kind of program, where we have a hard target of getting to a method that will convert CO2, so we don’t have to dump it into the atmosphere.”

In an email to the Thresher, a spokesperson from Woodside wrote about the importance of this project in this day’s climate.

COURTESY BRANDON MARTIN

“We know that the world needs energy that is affordable, sustainable, and secure to support the energy transition,” a they wrote. “The goal of this accelerator is to develop carbon utilization technologies at a meaningful scale. We want to use them, but we also want them to be available to help decarbonize industry.

We hope to give the carbon to products market a jump start.”

The project is led by faculty members Aditya Mohite, Naomi Halas, Peter Nordlander and Bruce Weisman. Mohite, a professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering, explained the premise of the project, and how they plan on achieving this.

“In order to achieve this project, we’ve proposed a totally new approach which includes plasma, the fourth [type of] matter,” Mohite said. “Plasma is 99% of the universe. You create plasma … if you have a gas [and ionize it], it breaks the atoms down into electrons and their corresponding positive particles and then ions. These charges then have tremendous amounts of energy, which allow you to then break bonds or do useful things.”

Andrew Lin, a first-year doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering, is currently working on the project and said that their current steps include research and compiling lists for needed materials for the accelerator.

“Right now, we’re sitting down and trying to determine what equipment is going to be the most important for us to make advances in the project,” Lin said.

“In the next coming months, we’ll have new systems brought into the building, and we’ll be able to start doing those experiments.”

Cherukuri said that the current end goal is to have a product at the end of the five years that can be the start of a new company.

“The philosophical outcome of this is that we forge a new way that industry and academia work together,” Cherukuri said.

“I would like to see us set an example of how industry and universities can work together to do something faster than has ever been done before and to create brand new technology that has never existed.”

10.12 x 16 Full Page Ad

4 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024

ADVERTISEMENT

De Lange Conference XIII • Feb. 9–10, 2024 • Baker Institute For nearly 50 years, scientists, scholars and policymakers have debated whether promising but potentially hazardous research at the forefront of innovation should be discussed by experts behind closed doors or by some other more collaborative mechanism that affords meaningful public input or oversight.

Today, as a new generation of genetic tools promise to transform our health, our bodies and our world; as novel challenges related to computer technologies and the uses of data and surveillance have emerged; and in light of our everintensifying climate crisis, we need innovations in governance and sciencesociety relations. While the technologies and circumstances may have changed, some questions remain perennial: What does scientific research, technological development, and public interest and governance look like in these brave new worlds — and who decides? During the two-day conference, we will explore these themes through a series of lively interventions and debates by scientists, scholars and artists.

This event is free, but registration is required.

For conference information, visit delange.rice.edu or scan here.

in collaboration with

DeLange XIII_10_12 x 16_Full Page Ad_011924.indd 1

1/19/2024 2:19:26 PM

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 • 5

THE RICE THRESHER

EDITORIAL

Run for SA to make a difference

As this year’s Student Association election cycle officially begins in early February, let’s not forget last year’s uncontested slate of candidates and the “Dilf Hunter” write-in campaign. The student body’s dissatisfaction with the SA has been clear, with many even calling for change in the way the SA operates, or questioning the allocation of their current resources elsewhere. If you’re one of the many jaded about the SA, we pose a question: Why not run for SA yourself?

Despite sometimes common belief, the SA has, in past and recent years, done actual, important work for the student body. Many of the resolutions the SA has passed have been unanimous and contributed greatly to improvement of student life. In November 2023, they allocated $2,000 to the Student Success Initiative’s pantry. In 2020, SA leaders helped initiate the servery meal swipe donation program, which has now grown to provide over 8,000 meal swipes to students.

They introduced the munch meal period and expanded dining hours across the serveries.

The SA has even passed resolutions on more controversial — but pressing — topics.

On Dec. 4, 2023, a resolution was passed affirming support for the Rice University Faculty Statement of Solidarity with Palestinians. In March 2022, the SA passed a resolution denouncing the statements

of Rice swim coach Seth Huston regarding the participation of transgender students in college-level sports. And, in November 2021, it was SA that lobbied to relocate the Founder’s Memorial in the academic quad, contributing to the statue’s ultimate removal.

Regardless of whether you agree with some of these resolutions, their importance is obvious — they give students a voice. Use yours, too.

If you’re one of the many jaded about the SA yet wants to see change, though, we pose a question: Why not run for SA yourself?

We also want to commend Solomon Ni, who announced his resignation as SA president on Jan. 22. During Ni’s time as SA treasurer, he was vital in drafting a resolution to make the 2024 Election Day non-instructional, which was eventually passed by the Faculty Senate. They helped implement changes to the Survey of All

Students to gather student feedback on off-campus housing and personal finance and completely rebranded the SA. Despite Ni’s resignation, we believe his tenure is a testament to changes students are capable of making.

There’s also been a significant amount of student activism on campus the past few years. We’ve found that it kind of works. At the core of many of these moves in activism is the SA and the passionate student leaders that participate in the organization.

This coming year is a chance to keep that momentum going — but only if the student body cares.

Once upon a time, we did. Elections used to be far more contested than they are now — and contested elections will be key in getting more students attentive to this election cycle.

There even used to be drama within SA elections. Maybe it’s time we bring that back.

While the SA doesn’t always make decisions the entire student body can agree with, they do always make decisions. If you want to be a part of making this difference, or even stop other people from making a difference, consider running for SA this year.

Editor’s Note: Editor-in-Chief Prayag Gordy recused himself from this editorial due to reporting on the 2024 SA elections in our news section.

GUEST OPINION

We will not wait until the next school shooting Editor’s Note: This is a guest opinion that has been submitted by a member of the Rice community. The views expressed in this opinion are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of the Thresher or its editorial board.

All guest opinions are fact-checked to the best of our ability and edited for clarity and conciseness by Thresher editors.

This guest opinion is adapted from an article written by Team ENOUGH, published in 59 student newspapers nationally. The original article was signed by 149 student leaders at 50 academic institutions.

The tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde remains the deadliest mass shooting in this country since 2019.

The deadliest mass shooting in 2019?

El Paso.

The last mass shooting of 2023 occurred in Austin.

There have already been three mass shootings in Texas this year, one of which occurred in Houston.

Yosha Hamilton, whose 16-year-old son Shane, a star athlete who dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player before being shot and killed in Baytown, summed up the collective conscience of so many in this state.

“It’s hell.”

Students in Texas are taught to love a country that values guns over our lives.

Many of us hear the sound of gunfire when we watch fireworks on the fourth of July. All of us have heard the siren of an active shooter drill and asked ourselves: Are we next?

By painful necessity, we have grown to become much more than students learning in a classroom — we have shed every last remnant of our childhood innocence.

Our hearts bleed from this uniquely American — uniquely Texan — brand of gun violence, and yet we remind ourselves that we love our country so much that we expect better from it.

Despite calls upon lawmakers to

do something about this epidemic of violence, our cries for action fall upon deaf ears. We are tired of being ridiculed as “radical” by lawmakers for championing common-sense gun reforms like expanding background checks, which are supported by a majority of Texans. What is radical is the status quo, where gun violence is the leading cause of death among Texas youth — more than cancer and more than car accidents.

Year after year, Texas loosens restrictions on guns, and year after year, the rate of youth gun deaths increases.

But I write today, along with hundreds of young people around the country, because I believe that our country has the capacity to love us back. There are bulletshaped holes in our hearts, but our spirits are unbreakable.

I joined the gun violence prevention movement when I was 17 years old. Nearly every week, my brother, who was just in the 6th grade, would come home and tell us about a shooting in his school’s neighborhood in Lexington, Ky. In 2018, a student brought a loaded gun to my high school. The following week, a student at another school in my hometown legally purchased an AR-15 and made threats to shoot his classmates. The threat of violence was constant, but I knew I couldn’t depend on my legislators to pass policies to keep me or my loved ones safe.

I remember watching my future friend and Team ENOUGH founding member Aalayah Eastmond’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. I shed tears, not from the horror she described from hiding herself under the body of Nicholas Dworet during the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. No, it was Aalayah’s resiliency and bravery. To share her story, to honor her fallen friends through it and to fight to prevent anyone from ever enduring that pain inspired me. I joined Team ENOUGH because, like Aalayah, I couldn’t wait for elected officials to do the right thing. And I couldn’t wait to lose someone I loved to act.

We believe that while it’s not fair that we must rise against a problem that we did not create, we have no choice: Our lives depend on it. Because for 360,000 of us since Columbine, the cursed emotional vocabulary of survivorship has become our story. We can’t stand by, waiting to lose the next Shane Hamilton or Nicholas Dworet before we are so compelled to act. We believe that we should not wait, and we will not wait, for individual trauma to affect us all before we respond together.

In a country with a rich legacy of youth-led movements, from the Civil Rights Movement to protests of the Vietnam War, our words do not have to end on the page, but rather can be channeled into change. And so we invite you to join this generation’s community of organizers, all of us united in demanding a future free of gun violence.

2024 is a crucial election. It is a presidential election year. Ted Cruz is up for election. Every single seat of the United States and Texas House of Representatives is up for election. We are at a crucial junction for the future of this country and Texas. We have the power to set the agenda to ensure that those who hold the highest seats of power genuinely represent us. Record youth turnout in 2020 set the stage for the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most comprehensive gun reform bill in nearly 30 years. This bill passed just a month after Uvalde.

I have one request: Contact your representative.

Editor’s Note: This opinion has been cut off for print. Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

EDITORIAL STAFF * Indicates Editorial Board member Prayag Gordy* Editor-in-Chief Riya Misra* Editor-in-Chief Nayeli Shad* Managing Editor NEWS Brandon Chen* Editor Spring Chenjp Asst. Editor Maria Morkas Asst. Editor OPINION Sammy Baek* Editor FEATURES Sarah Knowlton* Editor Shruti Patankar Asst. Editor ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Hadley Medlock* Editor Juliana Lightsey Asst. Editor Arman Saxena Asst. Editor SPORTS Pavithr Goli* Editor Diego Palos Rodriguez Asst. Editor Andersen Pickard Asst. Editor BACKPAGE Timmy Mansfield Editor Ndidi Nwosu Editor Andrew Kim Editor COPY Jonathan Cheng Editor Annika Bhananker Editor PHOTO, VIDEO, & WEB Cali Liu Photo Editor Francesca Nemati Asst. Photo Editor Camille Kao Video Editor Steven Burgess Asst. Video Editor Ayaan Riaz Web Editor DESIGN Alice Sun Art & Design Director Chloe Chan News Siddhi Narayan Opinion Jessica Xu Features Ivana Hsyung Arts & Entertainment Kirstie Qian Sports Lauren Yu Backpage BUSINESS Edelawit Negash Business Manager Korinna Ruiz Advertisement Vanessa Chuang Distribution

ABOUT The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University.

Letters to the Editor must be received by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication and must be signed, including college and year if the writer is a Rice student. The Thresher reserves the right to edit letters for content and length and to place letters on its website.

Editorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center: 6100 Main St., MS-524 Houston, TX 77005-1892 Phone: (713) 348 - 4801 Email: thresher@rice.edu Website: www.ricethresher.org The Thresher is a member of the ACP, TIPA, CMA and CMBAM. © Copyright 2024

Jasir Rahman

MCMURTRY COLLEGE JUNIOR ricethresher.org

6 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024

THE RICE THRESHER

Deep dive into Rice Escape’s ‘Sub-merged Sea-crets’

FAITH ZHANG / THRESHER Students work on puzzles in Rice Escape’s “Submerged Sea-crets” escape room.

— the room does have a “handsome Squidward” drawing on the wall — but the story of the room is still airtight.

In “Sub-merged Sea-crets,” teams of up to five participants take on the role of researchers at a pharmaceutical company called Jackson & Jackson who have been sent to an “early retirement” after raising ethical concerns about a drug called Methampheta-marine.

The experience has been met with positive reviews. Claire Hooper, who

HONGTAO HU

THRESHER STAFF Deep in the bowels of Sid Richardson College lies a chamber brimming with the stench of brine and brackish water. Of the 83 students who have ventured in, only half have managed to return within the hour.

Rice Escape’s newest escape room, “Submerged Sea-crets,” which is running in the Sid Richardson Makerspace from Jan. 12 to Jan. 28, doesn’t take itself too seriously

Push Your Luck 1

2

3

4

5

5

13

14

14

16

17

19 22

5

19 23

24

7

25

31

11

12

9

16

15

19

18

30

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

56

57

58

58

59

60

21

41 43 47

9

39

40 45

CROSSWORD WRITER

27

32 38

ACROSS

NISCHAL ADA 10

26 29

37

8

20

28

46

6

participated in the escape room, said that a brainstorming session where the club Rice Escape succeeded in creating an formulates an overarching theme, along with supporting puzzles. Each member undersea atmosphere.

“They put a ton of thought into it,” of Rice Escape is then assigned to create Hooper, a Duncan College freshman, said. two puzzles, which can be anything from a “I really enjoyed the overall story and the coded-from-scratch “password game” to a fully rotating periscope or a steering panel decoration in the room was really nice.”

Isabella Avilez, Rice Escape’s co- made of electrical circuits.

Head game host Victoria Santos stays president, said the club was founded in 2019 by former students Samuel Cheng and in character when delivering the opening Myra Ramdenbourg to create immersive monologue or offers witty hints when groups are stuck on puzzles. Santos worlds for students to explore.

“I’ve done escape rooms across the said that for her, Rice Escape offered the globe. I’ve been doing them in Europe, in opportunity to both create a story and North America, South America too,” Avilez, perform it.

“One of the reasons why I’m part of a Sid Richardson College senior, said. “My favorite kinds of rooms are the ones that Rice Escape is because there’s some aspect have cool puzzles, but it’s more of the to it that’s very theatrical,” Santos, a Will Rice College junior, said. “Even with game themes that get me engaged.” hosting, you have For Rice Escape to act it out, so [the member Nat Pujet, players] are really joining the club was invested in the a way to see what story.” goes on behind the I’ve done escape rooms Most of all, Rice scenes of an escape across the globe. I’ve been Escape members room. say their club “I’ve always doing them in Europe, is a place for loved escape rooms in North America, South community, both and puzzles and America too. My favorite now and in the anything in the future. genre, but I’ve never kinds of rooms are the “I’m excited had the opportunity ones that have cool to see the next to create one,” generation of Pujet, a Duncan puzzles, but it’s more of people who step College freshman, the themes that get me up to take on the said. “It was really challenge of being valuable to be able engaged. the leadership team to learn how these Isabella Avilez to an escape room [escape rooms] RICE ESCAPE CO-PRESIDENT club,” Avilez said. are made, and to “When I first joined [Rice Escape], be able to come up with some really fun puzzles and see players do them [is] really there was a very strong community culture before COVID,” Santos added. “I’m looking gratifying.”

Building an escape room is a forward to re-establishing that culture, the semester-long process, beginning with people in it being closer together.”

48

44

44

50

49

50

42

45

51

52

55

53

54

55

56

61

62

63

64

65

66

57

1 Feeding tube?

6 Wrongly take 9 Make a sweater 13 Like a leprechaun 14 Surrounding glow 15 Network spot 16 “Anaconda” rapper 18 “Barnyard” or “Sex Education” protagonist 19 Knight’s title 20 Just beginning 22 Injure a limb?

27 Gumbo veggies 28 Flower-shaped yoga pose 29 Shoe-buckling numbers 31 How some people like their latte 32 Ripen 33 Have as a tenant 37 Screenwriter’s creations 39 Exhausted, archaically 40 Mexican desert state bordering 8-Down 41 Teen’s woe 42 Court cries 43 Wet 45 Soul singer Sam 46 Islamic robe 49 PCP, colloquially 51 Hopeful position for 39-Down 53 Actress Longoria 54 “Madagascar” foot-loving lemur 55 Where you put your three Ws 61 Feminine suffix 62 Breads and whiskeys 63 Missouri, for one 64 Phony 65 ___Angeles 66 “Delish!”

DOWN 1 Cos cuz?

2 Hex half 3 Wrestler Flair 4 Plead 5 Egg beaters 6 Skedaddle 7 Scurvy slayer 8 ____ Blast from Taco Bell 9 Carpenter action?

10 Someone who records 11 “Frozen” Menzel 12 Exams 14 Plane odometers 17 “Mamma ___!”

21 Reaper precursor 22 Ecstasy 23 “Italian Stallion” Siffredi 24 Forever, poetically 25 Band aid?

26 Opposite of WSW 30 Horse’s gait 32 A bit 34 “Happy birthday __ ___!”

35 Hikes 36 Start of symptoms 38 Malay sailboats 39 Handy quintet?

41 Buddhist disposition 44 “My man!”

45 Sophisticated 46 Tops 47 Chef’s stock 48 Heart part 50 Wall-E’s friend 52 ____ Grey tea 56 ___ Moines 57 VWX precedessors 58 Explosion sound 59 rn 60 Spanish king

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 • 7

FEATURES

On this day in Thresher history Carefully cataloged by the University Of North Texas’s Portal to Texas History, the archives of the Rice

Thresher contain issues of the paper since its creation in 1916. Any Internet user brave enough to venture into over

a century of reporting can uncover hidden bits of from Rice’s history.

From scientific breakthroughs to

SARAH KNOWLTON

FEATURES EDITOR

programming victories, the Thresher is proud to bring you a selection of newsworthy events from Jan. 24.

JAN. 24, 1986 Researchers from Rice and the University of Sussex (below) discover the shape of unidentified carbon molecule clusters found in space. The shape was named “buckminsterfullerene” after Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome. It was nicknamed the “bucky ball” due to its resemblance to a soccer ball.

JAN. 24, 2003 Brown College Commons (above) is unveiled to students and met with mixed reviews. “We are happy to have the commons ... it seems like there should be something behind that wall [separating inner and outer commons],” Stan Chan ’03, the then-president of Brown, said.

JAN. 24, 1992 The facade of Fondren Library (left) is adorned with posters. Rice for Choice hosted a celebration of 19 years of Roe v. Wade, while Rice for Life held a vigil noting the anniversary. The feminist group Houston Gorilla Girls also advertised a protest at Sewall Hall.

JAN. 24, 1946 Dean Harry Weiser approved the creation of a group for veterans at Rice. The group was created for the benefit of students and faculty who fought in World War II, excluding those who were dishonorably discharged.

JAN. 24, 1997 Students attend a candlelight vigil (above) in the Sallyport in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. The program included a performance from the Black Student Association choir in the Rice Chapel, a speech from William Lawson of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church and an exhibit in the Rice Memorial Center.

For more Thresher coverage of Rice history, visit www.ricethresher.org/archives.

JAN. 24, 1980 44 years before Rice hosted last weekend’s Datathon, a group of programmers took the top spot at a regional competition hosted by the University of Texas at Arlington.

8 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024

FROM FRONT PAGE

MORÍN

I started writing this book when I just started my first tenure track job at Drew University in Madison, N.J. I was an expectant father … I was suddenly visible in a way that I had not been before. By that, I mean, I stood out. Whereas in Texas, I believe I blend in.

I was just kind of in a dark place. The next thing I knew, the letter that I had started composing for [my son] started getting longer and started feeling more like an essay letter. I thought, “This will probably never get published, so let me just cut loose and be as free and as wild as possible on the page with zero thoughts about publication.”

The first draft of the book came out in eight weeks. Then it just kind of sat for a while.

Then it was about trying to find an editor for whom the book would resonate. I was very fortunate that the book resonated with Courtney Ochsner, who has edited my memoir. It just kind of went from there.

THE RICE THRESHER

book to those works?

TM: What happened in the writing of “Where Are You From” is that all of my skills and abilities as a poet merged with my abilities as a writer of prose. Some of the passages [in this book] are just as good, if not better than any poetry I’ve ever written. I feel much more vulnerable in this book because I wasn’t really thinking of an audience, except for my son. Because the book is written in the letter form, as letters to him, I’m just so much more open because I want to be open with him. Why would I hide behind style or hide behind figurative language from my own child?

RT: Your take on superhero movies?

Do you believe in Marvel bashing, or do you want to defend— TM: Absolutely defend them. As a collector of comics from childhood, I waited patiently for a very long time, and had actually given up hope that the technology of filmmaking would one day be able to recreate what you see in the pages. When I think of “Infinity War,” 20 movies all interlinked, how is that not “1001 Arabian Nights,” “The Iliad” or “The Odyssey?” It’s this epic work of interlinked stories that all culminates in one moment. We poets and writers have been doing that for a long time. They just hadn’t been doing it in film.

RT: A written record is a powerful thing. A written work finalizes a train of thought, and when done elegantly, it makes a near immortal statement. What made you decide to write to your then unborn son?

TM: The jumpstart was the fact that I Tomorrow isn’t RT: I want to became a parent guaranteed to any of ask, why poetry? later in life. I don’t us. Just because it’s What is it about consider myself a poetry as an art, a person who is old, mathematically possible medium, a method but I have friends doesn’t mean we’ll be of communication, that I went to high here tomorrow or 50 that makes you school with who tomorrows from now. gravitate toward it had become parents to tell your story? I when they were 20. Tomás Morín guess, in a way, can And here I was 42 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF you give me a pitch years old, becoming CREATIVE WRITING for poetry? a parent for the first TM: One of the things that sets poetry time. When you go to the pediatricians office, and they call you and your partner aside from all the other genres of writing “geriatric parents” because you’re in your is that it’s the most condensed form of 40s and they don’t mean that as a joke — language. You’re getting the most meaning suddenly, it’s like, “Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, out of the fewest amount of words. This democratizes poetry, rather than make this is, this is a real thing.”

I started counting my years ahead in a it an art form of the elite. When a reader different way than I had before. When my engages with poetry, they bring all of their son turns 18, he’s graduating from high experiences, feelings and knowledge to that school, how old will I be? When he’s 25? poem and speak with it. The poem speaks Or he’s 30? How old will I be then? How right back. I think that’s part of the reason can I create this time capsule of who I am, why we turn often to poetry during times at this point, struggling with racism and of grief, whether it be personal grief or white supremacy in this country and what national grief. Poems have language for the it means to be a person of color? Tomorrow things that we don’t have language for. isn’t guaranteed to any of us. Just because RT: You mention the idea of being it’s mathematically possible doesn’t mean we’ll be here tomorrow or 50 tomorrows behind enemy lines in your book. I presume that this analogy was evoked from now. by an overwhelming sense of isolation.

RT: You’re quite the accomplished In your case, it seems that your skin scholar and author. You are the author color, and maybe more importantly, of “Machete,” “Let Me Count the Ways,” your lived experience, separates you “A Larger Country” and “Patient Zero,” from these other people. Do you think as well as an established editor and that BIPOCs will always have this sense translator. Can you compare your latest of being “behind enemy lines” in this

AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER

country? Or do you think that your son, has been a tool for the institution of or maybe even his son will ever be able racism. One drop of non-“pure” blood is all it took to suppress this social mobility to put down their gun?

TM: I think context is incredibly of a person of color? “Choosing one over important. For example, in New York City, the other” or “race traitor” get thrown I didn’t spend time in spaces where I felt around a lot in this conversation. What the same way, where I felt “behind enemy are your general thoughts on these ideas lines.” But the city of Madison is such regarding the mixed identity?

TM: The image that comes up in my a wealthy place, and a very white and privileged space. As I mentioned in the mind is crabs in a barrel, crawling over one book, the majority of the people in town another to try to get and stay on the top. I who were POC were wearing uniforms or see the barrel as a metaphor for the idea that if you’re mixed, aprons. They worked there’s some sort there, but they didn’t of primary state of live there … They being.

Depending were so confused to The lessons that I’m on who you ask, see someone who going to give my son as that may be white. looked like me just I feel like the whole strolling down the a parent will hopefully thing, intellectually, grocery aisle and not give him the strength is such a toxic dump wearing an apron and resilience to deal of ideas with roots and restocking a with certain things, but in preserving power, shelf. There’s such status and privilege. a long legacy of the world is also going I hate all of it. That’s wealth and privilege to present him with one of the reasons creating a white struggles and problems why, in the book, I oasis in places like spend so much time Madison. In Texas, that I’ve never had. talking about labels.

I don’t have those Tomás Morín What can we come hunched shoulders, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF up with if we just I don’t carry myself CREATIVE WRITING go completely wild? in the same way. I don’t feel on edge, constantly bracing for How can we redefine things, how can we something that is said or done against me. relabel things? How can we make language Not to say that Texas isn’t problematic and serve our community better? We’re not here to serve language, language is here to serve doesn’t have its own issues. us.

Editor’s Note: This article has been cut RT: You discuss the idea of being mixed and you talked about the importance of off for print. Read the full story online at labels. Historically, the “one drop rule” ricethresher.org

WEEKLY SCENES AND SCREENS Humanities Now

Ritmo

Rice Cinema

Climate and Migration

As part of “Les Mis” week, hosted by the Rice French Club, Modern and Classical Literatures and Cultures and the School of Humanities, Humanities NOW is presenting a talk by Philip Wood called “Art Versus Entertainment: Les Miserables.” This event will be Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. in Kraft Hall 130 and is free to attend.

HACER is hosting their annual cultural showcase, Ritmo, Jan. 27 in the Grand Hall at 6 p.m. Tickets are $7 for HACER members, $10 for nonmembers and $15 at the door, and the event will feature food and various performances.

On Jan. 26 and 27 at 7 p.m., Rice Cinema is hosting the Ann Arbor Film Festival Tour in Sewall Hall 301. Since 1964, this festival has been presenting a tour of selected works to various galleries, theaters, universities and more, and this stop will feature a collection of eight short films.

The Center for Environmental Studies and Diluvial Houston Initiative is hosting a symposium on climate and migration with Air Alliance Houston and the Houston Climate Justice Museum.

The Feb. 2 session will be hosted at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is free to attend.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 • 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Review: “American Fiction” presents a refreshing blend of satire and drama

COURTESY ORION PICTURES

JAY COLLURA

THRESHER STAFF If you’ve been watching movies these few years, you’ve probably seen Jeffrey Wright. He was Commissioner Gordon in “The Batman,” reprised his role alongside Daniel Craig in “No Time To Die” and played smaller characters in two Wes Anderson movies. Across all these performances, he has been consistently excellent but always limited. Fortunately, “American Fiction” finally allows Wright to

take center stage — an opportunity that he capitalizes on, providing a thoughtful and hilarious lead in first-time director Cord Jefferson’s dramedy.

The film, adapted from Percival Everett’s “Erasure,” follows Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Wright), an African-American author struggling to find a publisher for his latest novel because his latest manuscript is, in the words of his agent, “not Black enough.” After encountering a successful novel entitled “We’s Lives In Da Ghetto,” Monk frustratedly writes a satirical

response criticizing the Black stereotypes comedy and drama creates a grounded, that he believes the novel is pandering thought-provoking narrative that is never to. However, the publishing world takes too heavy.

Structurally, this two-lane approach is Monk’s story at face value, assuming that the novel is based on the real experience of strong, but the execution leaves something a criminal, and the book becomes Monk’s to be desired. As the film continues, the most successful work. The satire that drama becomes increasingly predictable comes from the premise is refreshingly and feels almost like a collage of tropes sharp and frequently hilarious. Watching used in similar stories. For a film that is the self-serious, measured Monk be otherwise innovative, it is underwhelming for the drama to lack confronted with the same bite that the success and deal with comedy has. good-intentioned but This shortcoming naive publishers is is no fault of the hilarious. Decisions ensemble, however. made in the Starring: Jeffrey Wright Tracee Ellis Ross, costuming and set Leslie Uggams and design also add to the Sterling K. Brown all hilarity, and the jokes deliver appropriately never wear too thin as complex performances that elevate the a result.

However, the film is bifurcated. The material significantly. Wright is also satire prompts questions about the excellent at balancing his character’s use of stereotypes and the way white irritability, sensitivity and wit. This balance audiences perceive African-American creates a three-dimensional character, art, and the other half of the film, a which is exactly what the film wants family drama, partially answers these to accomplish. Allowing Wright to take questions. By creating a portrait of a center stage expands the conversation the complex Black family dealing with their film inspires to the real world, as Jefferson strained relationships with each other, aims to elevate Black voices at all levels.

Regardless of some issues with the the film provides an alternative example to the stereotype-based novels the film execution, “American Fiction” is still a very is satirizing. Monk’s frustration with his sharp film that is worth watching. The film, writing eventually leads him back home, smartly, does not impose a singular answer where he reconnects with his sister and to the variety of questions it poses, but mom after isolating himself for some instead inspires important conversations years. The precise balance between in a hilarious, accessible way.

Senior Spotlight: Abramson exhibits biology through art CHIARA MORETTI

THRESHER STAFF

To Liliana Abramson, art has the potential to be an avenue of education. A double major in Biology and Visual and Dramatic Arts, Abramson has long been interested in exploring the intersection of biology, research and art — an endeavor that recently captured the attention of the Houston Chronicle.

After learning about galls, abnormal growths on the external tissue of plants caused by parasitic wasps, in Professor Scott Egan’s ecology class, Abramson knew she wanted to incorporate them into an art project. Using a box full of galls provided

by Egan’s research lab, Abramson took a pair of thrifted high heels and completely covered them with the growths — her way of connecting art with the natural world.

Egan asked Abramson if he could post a picture of her project on Twitter, and much to Abramson’s surprise, the tweet went minorly viral and she was soon contacted by the Houston Chronicle for an interview.

“I didn’t realize there was a big interest in biology-based artwork … I didn’t think anyone was going to care about them,” Abramson, a Jones College senior, said.

“It helped me realize I could really get a lot more interesting to me,” Abramson people’s attention by using more biology- said.

A sculptor since middle school, based things from the natural world and taking biological concepts we learn in Abramson said she did not initially class and incorporating that into the consider art as a potential degree path.

After coming to Rice and taking art classes, artwork and combining the two fields.” though, she was Despite having soon convinced an interest in art to add VADA as a from an early age, second major. Part it was biology that Especially in the ecology of this decision, she originally brought said, was the ability Abramson to and evolutionary biology to have her own art Rice. Shortly into field, there’s a big push for studio to work in her degree, she during senior year. switched her focus scientific communication.

“If I became an from the pre-med One way to do that is art major, I would track to ecologythrough art and design. get my own studio focused academia. senior year,” said “I took [a class LILIANA ABRAMSON Abramson.

“And on] evolution my JONES COLLEGE SENIOR that was what sold sophomore year ... and this is actually so much more [the VADA major] to me.”

Though the program exposes students interesting. I get to learn about cool animals and nature … The research felt to all forms of art-making, Abramson

FAITH ZHANG / THRESHER Liliana Abramson went “minorly viral” on Twitter after a picture was posted of her latest art project: gall-adorned high heels.

found her main interest in wearable art.

“I don’t really like drawing or painting … I need something that’s really tactile,” Abramson said.

In addition to exploring science and art, Abramson said she appreciates the connections she has made in the program.

“The art major is small, so you’re going to know people from previous classes.

But even in Senior Studio … since you’re all working in such close proximity, it forces you to get to know each other,” Abramson said. “And art itself encourages vulnerability, so that also helps with making friends.”

Abramson’s interest in incorporating science into her art is apparent, Egan said.

“She’s great, and she’s curious about the natural world and she wanted to combine that into her artwork, which was so fun to be part of in a supportive process,” Egan said.

After graduation, Abramson said she hopes to return to her hometown of

Cambridge, Mass. Though she plans on taking a break from school, Abramson has plans to conduct further ecological research in the future.

“I really love doing biology research, but I want to make sure I still have time to do art … It would be great if I could keep working on combining biology and art,” Abramson said.

No matter where she ends up, though, Abramson said her interest in biology will continue to inform the art she makes and information she shares.

“Biology has pointed me to a lot of interesting new animals, environments and ecosystems I’d have never thought of before. Learning more about those just gives me more ideas for artwork,” Abramson said. “I think the artwork helps me be more creative with how I approach projects. Especially in the ecology and evolutionary biology field, there’s a big push for scientific communication. One way to do that is through art and design.”

10 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024

THE RICE THRESHER

Women’s tennis outlasted by Harvard in season debut on Saturday that up. In some parts we did in the singles, but in some points Harvard was just able to ASST. SPORTS EDITOR make one more ball than us and was just After comfortably winning the doubles a little more committed to their shots from point and first singles point, the Rice start to finish.”

Since the indoor facility only had five women’s tennis team fell to Harvard University 4-2 on Saturday, Jan. 20. While courts, the sixth singles match was played playing away from home at the Advantage immediately following the first singles win.

Following a quick Indoor - Houston doubles victory, Indoor Tennis Ratkovic was just as Club’s facilities due swift in the singles. to cold weather, You always want to win, After only giving the Owls made up two games in a their season debut but we’re going to get 6-2 first-set victory, against a Harvard better from this match, she played an even team that played win or lose. Take the more dominant their third match of things we did well and second set and the season. shut out Harvard’s Despite the keep doing them, and Charlotte Owensby change in venue, take the things we need to 6-0. head coach improve on and improve “[Ratkovic] did Elizabeth Schmidt on them. a great job getting said the team got that quick point and off to a great start Elizabeth Schmidt staying focused,” after 6-1 doubles WOMEN’S TENNIS HEAD COACH Schmidt said. victories from two pairs: graduate student Chie Kezuka and “Sometimes, especially as a freshman, you senior Federica Trevisan, and freshman can lose focus there when you’re way up Divna Ratkovic and sophomore Darya and it’s a team battle. We’re proud of her for the way she competed and the way she Schwartzman.

“This [was] our first dual match,” kept her foot on the gas and finished the Schmidt said. “We wish we would have job quickly and helped us get a second been at home but we weren’t, so we came point on the board.”

Ratkovic’s performance helped the here. I thought we played aggressive, we took it to them, and [I told them] to keep Owls start 2-0 in the overall score, but their

DIEGO PALOS RODRIGUEZ

DIEGO PALOS RODRIGUEZ / THRESHER Graduate student tennis player Chie Kezuka prepares to serve the ball against Harvard University. Women’s tennis lost their season opener 4-2 against the Crimson over the weekend.

momentum was quickly halted by Harvard victories on the remaining courts.

Kezuka was the first to lose against Maxi Duncan (6-2, 6-3), followed by Trevisan against Holly Fischer (6-3, 6-3) and junior Saara Orav against Kate Kim (6-3, 6-2), putting Harvard up 3-2 with only two singles matches left.

Schmidt said the team played with discipline and aggression, but still had strides to make when keeping composure on the court.

“On a couple of courts, we got a little flustered when things didn’t quite go our way, so we’ve got to keep working on that,”

Schmidt said.

Schwartzman played from behind to tie her first set 6-6, but she dropped the tiebreaker 7-4. She turned her luck around and won the second set 6-2. Schwartzman and Harvard’s Angel You opted to play a full third set — instead of a shortened one — but mid-set, the sixth singles match ended in a Harvard victory (6-1, 6-1). Although Schwartzman was leading 4-3 in her third set, the match went unfinished as Harvard clinched the dual match victory 4-2.

Editor’s Note: This article has been cut off for print. To read more, visit ricethresher. org.

Owls WBB soar to top of AAC with two more road wins

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Sophomore guard Dominique Ennis looks to pass the ball in the Owls’ weekend win over Tulane University.

Ennis and the Owls WBB team are tied for first in the AAC in their inaugural season in the conference.

ANDERSEN PICKARD

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

A strong start to the 2023-24 season continues for the Rice women’s basketball team, which won two more games last week and is tied for the best conference record in the American Athletic Conference standings.

Fresh off a back-and-forth 67-64 win Jan. 14 against the University of South Florida, Rice hit the road for two more games against AAC foes. Rice hasn’t lost a road game against an unranked opponent since Nov. 25.

The Owls’ current road trip began on Wednesday, Jan. 17, against East Carolina University. The game tipped off at 11 a.m.

Eastern, but Rice didn’t show any signs of early-morning fatigue. They went on an 8-0 run to take the lead early in the first quarter, then added another 7-0 run at the end of the period to lead 22-13.

Fifth-year senior guard Destiny Jackson and sophomore guard Dominique Ennis

Edmonds said. “There were thousands of people in here, kids screaming against us, and all that mattered was what we had. We were enough together and I’m so proud of this group.”

Rice traveled to New Orleans for a game against Tulane University three days later. Like in their matchup against the Pirates, the Owls had their foot on the gas pedal from the start, outscoring the Green Wave 23-14 in the first quarter. Jackson and junior forward Malia Fisher scored eight points each in the opening quarter, with the former hitting both of her threepointers while the latter secured a pair of rebounds.

Points proved hard to come by in the second quarter as Rice and Tulane shot a combined 7-for-23. The Owls, however,

EDITORIAL CARTOON both hit three-pointers to open the second quarter and extended Rice’s margin. A 13-2 ECU run near the end of the half wasn’t nearly enough, leaving the Owls up 43-33 at halftime.

Rice continued to control the second half, maintaining a double-digit lead for most of the period. The Owls demonstrated their advantage on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, converting all seven of their free throws in the half while simultaneously holding ECU to 13% from three.

The second half ran through Ennis, whose 11 points and two rebounds in the frame led the Owls to an 80-67 victory. She finished the game as Rice’s leading scorer.

Head coach Lindsay Edmonds said she was proud of her team’s toughness and cohesion against ECU, explaining that they prevailed despite an early tipoff and a raucous crowd.

“To be on the road for an 11 o’clock tip, I’m just so proud of the toughness we showed and togetherness we showed,”

dominated the boards by grabbing 11 rebounds compared to Tulane’s four. Rice entered halftime with a 32-21 advantage.

After the game, Edmonds praised her team’s play for the first 10 minutes of the game but acknowledged “we had a little bit of a lull in the second.”

Tulane came out of the locker room rejuvenated for the second half and threatened to chip away at their deficit, shooting 6-for-16 with 10 rebounds and one steal. However, Rice outperformed their AAC opponent, shooting 6-for-15 and hitting all four of their free throws.

Fisher had a strong quarter defensively, contributing four steals.

Editor’s Note: This article has been cut off for print. To read more, visit ricethresher. org.

“Owl-American”

HONG LIN TSAI / THRESHER “Surf’s Up!”

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024 • 11

SPORTS

Grants build nest together at Rice coaching WBB commitment and we both were willing to do it,” Danyelle said of dating in a long distance relationship. “The other Soon after they started dating in 2016, part of that is we worked for very good Danyelle and Nick Grant talked about people who understood what each how they could never coach together. other meant to one another, so they They didn’t think it was possible. They were very understanding as well to help were both assistant women’s basketball aid in our relationship. coaches in different states.

“That was a huge factor too, I think, Eight years later, they live in the for both of us, so now we have even same city for the first time and are both more appreciation for being together.” coaching the Rice women’s basketball They got married during the summer team. of 2020 and had their son Austin Grant “As you grow in the spring and as you of 2021. When learn and adapt Austin was only about what you two and a half ultimately want It’s been really, really months old, Nick in life, you make humbling and fun and got a call about a d j u s t m e n t s , ” fulfilling, honestly, to be a coaching job at Danyelle said.

Rice. He wasn’t able to coach with [Nick].

“It’s been looking to move really, really Danyelle Grant farther away from humbling and ASST. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COACH his wife and son, fun and fulfilling, but Nick couldn’t honestly, to be able to coach with refuse the opportunity after talking to [Nick].” head coach Lindsay Edmonds.

Both Danyelle and Nick had worked “With each conversation with Coach in women’s basketball for more than a Edmonds, I just knew ‘I’m going, I’m decade before coming to Rice. Nick says going to go there, I’m going to go work that the hardest part of coaching on the for her,’” Nick said. “We align in so same team was learning each other’s many different ways. I think she’s an coaching styles. Nick is now in his third incredible human being and leader, and year as an assistant coach for the Owls, I was anxious to go work for somebody and Danyelle is in her second. like that.”

“When we come to work, we work,” Nick moved to Houston for the 2021Nick said. “If you didn’t see our last 22 season, while Danyelle took a job as names on the placard, you wouldn’t an assistant coach at the University of know that we were married at all. Most Southern California. Austin stayed with people don’t [know] until they find out Danyelle. in a roundabout way, so it’s been a The Grants had already been in a seamless transition.” long-distance relationship before Nick The couple first met over email took the job at Rice. It wasn’t the same discussing a scouting report. They later after Austin was born, though. met in person while recruiting the same “It was very rough not being there player at a high school basketball game. for her to help with the child, but then Neither of them ended up successfully also not being there for our first child as recruiting the player, but they did end well,” Nick said. “It was a rough year.” up reconnecting at the 2016 Final Four.

Nick credits the Rice community “We bumped back into each other with making the year easier for the again and we had sequential days to couple. Edmonds allowed him to travel be able to get to know one another,” as much as he needed to be with his Danyelle said. “The rest is history.” family. However, the schedule made it When they started dating, Danyelle impossible for him to be with his baby was an assistant coach at the University during Austin’s first birthday. of Utah and Nick was an assistant coach “Just to speak to the culture and at San Diego State University. The team here at Rice prior to us getting couple met, dated, got engaged and got here, they made it so that Nick knew married all while working and living in that they understood what it meant for different states. him to be away on [Austin’s] birthday,” “It takes a lot of work, a lot of Danyelle said. “They helped celebrate

KATHLEEN ORTIZ

THRESHER STAFF

Austin, and they had never met him.

They got him balloons and books and gifts and things like that just trying to make that day special.”

After a long year apart, Nick was grateful when Edmonds wanted Danyelle on her staff. Danyelle said it wasn’t easy leaving the people she worked with at the USC, but she wanted to put her family together.

“I was willing to take whatever came with [us being together], you know, because there’s always give and take in this profession,” Danyelle said. “I love the kids that I got to work with and coach at USC, but ultimately they knew as well what was important to me.

“I’ve been coaching long enough to know and have made decisions based off of other people for a long time,” she continued. “Now I got to make a decision for me and my family. That was really, really fun.”

Now, for the second season, Nick and Danyelle live in the same city and coach for the same team. The players who once only knew Austin from photos now spend time with him reading books, watching movies and walking.

They even let him sit on the back of the bus with them sometimes.

“Those moments are moments that you live for,” Nick said. “You trust your players, and your son is able to look up to older people that aren’t his parents.

That’s a really special privilege to have that not everybody has.”

Despite all the moments, big and small, that their family has been able to spend together in the past two years, Nick still says that his fondest memory is probably the first game he and Danyelle coached together.

“When we get done with a game our son runs onto the floor and he always runs right by me and he runs to my wife,” Nick said of Austin’s post-game habit. “The first game that we had, that was the first time that he did that. I just thought [about how] we hadn’t been able to be on a staff together ever. At our first game together, for our 1-year-old son at the time to run onto the floor and embrace us was definitely an emotion.”

Austin is only a couple months shy of his third birthday. He still runs to his parents after every home game. The team is 11-6 overall, and 5-1 in the AAC, and Austin will run to his parents with the exact same toothy grin no matter the team’s record or the final score.

“It brings me back to the reality that there are just some things that are bigger than the game,” Danyelle said.

“It’s honestly the best feeling. He does not care whether we won or whether we lost. As a mom, as a parent, it’s really given me perspective to not allow him to know that and just to know that we love him.”

KATHLEEN ORTIZ / THRESHER Nick Grant holds Austin, his son, as his wife, Danyelle, looks on. Danyelle and Nick are both assistant coaches on the Rice WBB team and share the unique opportunity of coaching at the same university.

COLUMN

Critical season looms for Jose Cruz Jr. and the Rice baseball team In about three and a half weeks, Rice baseball will kick off their season with their first pitch scheduled for Friday, Feb. 16 when they host the University of Notre Dame for a three-game series.

The Fighting Irish are part of a slate of tough competition that the Owls will face during the 2024 season, their inaugural one in the American Athletic Conference. Some other notable opponents include a home game against defending champions Louisiana State University and a weekend series against Stanford University, who were in the College World Series last year. The Owls also face tough competition within their conference headlined by East Carolina University, currently ranked No. 11 in the nation according to the 2024 D1Baseball preseason rankings.

Despite commemorating the 20th anniversary of Rice’s first-ever NCAA championship, the Owls faced a challenging season last year, struggling with a disappointing performance on the

field. The Owls went 21-37 overall and won only nine of 30 games against opponents in the Conference USA, ranking third-tolast in their final season as a member of that conference. Furthermore, expanding to a comparison against all 305 Division 1 teams in the NCAA, Rice was ranked as the 167th-best team in Warren Nolan’s RPI rankings.

Jose Cruz Jr., who is entering his third year as the head coach of the Owls’ baseball program, hopes to build upon the upward trajectory that he’s had so far. Having won more games last year, 21, than he did in his first season leading his alma mater, 17, Cruz Jr. also brought in a top recruiting class to help the program for the next four years. After going unranked in the top 100 recruiting classes in 2023, the Owls’ 2024 recruiting class ranks 70th in the nation with 13 new high school commits. The top 100 recruiting class not only sets the Owls’ up for a successful future, but can also pay dividends this upcoming season. Thus,

the Owls’ have high expectations to hit the ground running in the AAC, which is a comparatively weaker conference than the C-USA in baseball.

Cruz Jr. will hope that strong recruiting, along with player development over the offseason, will help propel Rice to the relevancy that the program commanded during former head coach Wayne Graham’s legendary years leading Rice baseball. Player development is key for the Owls’ roster that saw only four players graduate last year and is returning most of their roster.

However, Cruz Jr. faces some significant challenges as he prepares for the Owls’ first season in the AAC. The offseason saw Cruz Jr. lose several key staff members including former assistant coaches Paul Janish and Rob Hardy. Janish, a player on the 2003 championship team and former major leaguer, was hired in November 2023 as the director of player development for the Chicago White Sox. Hardy, who

joined the Owls coaching staff in 2021, left Rice to become the pitching coach for Gardner-Webb University. Cruz Jr. aims to overcome the loss of Janish and Hardy through several in-house hires; he promoted DC Arendas, the former director of player development, and Justin Asperegen, the former quality control assistant, to the assistant head coach position.

Although the coaching staff has new faces, it is imperative that the Owls show significant development and growth from their young roster to improve upon their disappointing performances over the last two years.

Pavithr Goli

SPORTS EDITOR

12 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2024

BACKPAGE

The Senior Bucket List serves as a guide on how to spend the last 100 days of college life at Rice.

It’s a voluntary opportunity for Rice seniors to bond, and for students to celebrate the conclusion of their journey throughout college.

Caution: This is a bucket list. Completion of all items on this test will likely result in death.

Check off every item you complete.

100.

99.

98.

97.

96.

95.

94.

93.

92.

91.

90.

89.

88.

87.

86.

85.

84.

83.

82.

81.

80.

79.

78.

77.

76.

75.

74.

73.

72.

71.

70.

69.

68.

67.

66.

65.

64.

63.

62.

61.

60.

59.

58.

57.

56.

55.

54.

53.

52.

51.

Attend a public Skip class Pirate your textbooks Go on a servery crawl Run in Baker 13 Climb to the roof of the Sallyport Rant your heart out in a course evaluation Drop a class and feel a little bad Walk a lap around Seibel and leave with an empty plate Wear a full backpack to Pub Get kicked OC and end up staying Climb the Willy Statue Pull an all-nighter to do work Attend a lecture you’re not in and ask a dumb question Confess a legal act to RUPD Steal a book from Fondy Set off the fire alarm Run for student government and lose Run for student government and be disappointed that you won Get quoted in the Thresher Leave your handprint in drying concrete in campus construction Unionize with other students to complain about assignments being due on a Sprinkle Day Photobomb a quinceañera photoshoot Play experimental noise jazz on the RMC lobby piano Get swept away by an Inner Loop flood Sloppy steaks at Associates Night Get removed from a role in a club Take the stand-up comedy COLL class and absolutely bomb Walk from Duncan Hall to the BRC with a blindfold on Steal from Chaus with comically long straw Wait in the Yoyo’s line Stalk your friend on their Screw date Finish a 2% milk borg on College Night Join Spontaneous Combustion, die on stage and refuse to get up as your bit Beatbox the “Hard Work Work” song with an acapella group Steal and use all of the condoms in the local RHA bag/locker Get COVID Court-ed Fail an LPAP Take a final for a class you’re not in Put eviction notices under doors at your college Write an inflammatory op-ed for the Thresher Get a free drink from the Tea Nook with your stars Lift at the Rec in Speedo Wear a fursuit to class Start a gastroenteritis outbreak Scream at high schoolers in a Rice tour group Spread an unfounded rumor about someone on Fizz Post something on Fizz with the primary goal of upvote-farming Steal electronic devices from Murt or Duncan Go on a date with a UH student

50.

49.

48.

47.

46.

45.

44.

43.

42.

41.

40.

39.

38.

37.

36.

35.

34.

33.

32.

31.

30.

29.

28.

27.

26.

25.

24.

23.

22.

21.

20.

19.

18.

17.

16.

15.

14.

13.

12.

11.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Take the Metro more than 10 stops away from Rice Get frisky in a Fondy study room Eat a fish from Galveston (and live) Run from RUPD Use all of your Tetra to buy out the Hoot Steal someone’s ID and buy out the Hoot Black out at a FITQ or Associates Night Swipe a piece of President’s House memorabilia Conquer the Great American Challenge with your suite Get REMSed (for a reason unrelated to alcohol consumption) Get REMSed (for alcohol consumption) Eat an entire chemistry midterm Hijack an RUPD golf cart Box someone in McMurtry quad Venmo the Backpage $20 @dilfhunter69 Violate the Honor Code (gasp!)

Defecate in Martel commons Embezzle from your college’s Cab budget Run through the rustication fountain without being rusticated Leave a servery plate in your room for so long it spawns a new species Drink the servery liquid waste Spend 24 consecutive hours in Fondy Hook up with your O-Week sibling Hook up with your O-Week child/parent Hook up with TA Hook up with a professor/A-Team member Incite a riot in the Chaus line Make eye contact with a professor in the Rec locker room Gain ownership of and delete your college’s GroupMe/Slack Send out a phishing email to your college’s listserv Find the hidden monolith on campus Develop a substance abuse problem Drink from a puddle of still water in the steam tunnels Go up the down stairs in 2020 Broadcast kidnapping ransom demands live on KTRU Do hard drugs in your Magister’s house Pop the football bubble Scooter into a car on the Inner Loop Car into a scooterer on the Inner Loop Check out a book from Fondy Capture a squirrel and domesticate it in your room Get arrested for standing naked in the Academic Quad Purchase the naming rights to the new residential colleges with your friends Get married Kidnap and pretend to be an RA’s child to get on-campus housing Die and reincarnate as a campus opossum Cook meth in a Rice chemistry lab Snort the ashes of William Marsh Rice Bike every leg of the Beer Bike relay by yourself Graduate :)

Your Score (to be filled out at graduation): ______ The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Ndidi Nwosu, Andrew Kim, and Timmy Mansfield and designed by Lauren Yu. For questions or comments, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu.

CLASSIFIEDS TUTORS WANTED Rice Alum hiring well-qualified tutors for all levels of STEM, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Reliable transportation highly preferred. Pay $30/hr+ based on experience. Email resume to sri. iyengar@sriacademicservices.com Visit our website www.sriacademicservices. com to learn more!

ADVERTISING The Thresher accepts display and classified advertisements and reserves the right to refuse any advertising for any reason. Additionally, the Thresher does not take responsibility for the factual content of any advertisement.

Printing an advertisement does not consititute an endorsement by the Thresher.

Display advertisements must be received by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication; see ricethresher.org for pricing. Classified advertisements must be received with cash, check or credit card payment by 12 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication; see ricethresher.org for pricing. thresher-ads@rice.edu P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77005-1892